Iran books berth in FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship
The national Iranian volleyball team has thrashed Thailand in consecutive sets to secure its spot in the final showdown of the 2017 Asian Men's U23 Volleyball Championship, and also take a berth at the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship.
On Monday evening, the Iranian team breezed past Thailand 3-0 (25-22, 25-19 and 25-20) at the end of a semi-final match staged at the 6,000-seater Hossein Rezazadeh Indoor Stadium in the northwestern Iranian city of Ardabil.
The Thais kicked off to a flying start to tone with their Iranian counterparts tactically and technically in the first set. However, they could not maintain their momentum later on and Persians took the set by 25 points to 22.
Iran held the lead in the second set, while Thailand did its best to draw alongside the hosts.
The Iranians, however, held the visitors off by mounting a series of powerful attacks and solid blocks to win the second set 25-19.
The Persians maintained the lead in the third set, and kept on earning points. They dominated the set 25-20 at last, and could progress to the title game.
“It is our great pleasure to stay among the top 12 teams of the world. Japan are a very good team and I think to beat them is not easy. We will do our best to beat them,” Iran’s head coach Juan Cichello said after the match.
“I am happy that we won the match. We have three more months up to the world meet in Egypt. We have already won a berth to compete in the world meet and now we have to do our best to retain our title before home fans,” Iran’s captain Rahman Taghizadeh said.
The 2017 Asian Men's U23 Volleyball Championship kicked off in Ardabil, Iran, on May 1 and will run through May 9, 2017.
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